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Video: On leave, hero soldier captures robber

Closed captioning of: On leave, hero soldier captures robber

>>what would you do if you were at a bank and someone tried to rob it? an army staff sergeant is being hailed as a hero when a man pulled a gun and aimed it at his family.
mark potter
has the story.

>> reporter: on leave with his family in sarasota, florida, eddie peebles, an
iraq war veteran
, had no reason to think his battle skills would be tested and recorded on a
security camera
while out with his kids. vifting a bank with his boys he came
face to face
with a man with a gun police say was there to commit robbery. peebles can be seen in the background shielding the children from harm.

>>i'm trying to get my children out of his line of fire.

>> reporter: with the gunman looming he tells his kids to get under the seats and moves chairs in front of them. soon the gunman turned and threatened his boys.

>>he points the gun and says, you know, if anyone does anything, the kid is going to get it.

>> reporter: police identified the robber as
matthew rogers
and say he walked out of the bank with tens of thousands of dollars. after telling his kids to stay put, peoples followed rogers outside and headed for his rental van.

>>to me it was just, i need to get this guy. he needs to go to jail. that's all it was for me. you know, you don't point weapons at children.

>> reporter: across the parking lot peoples used his van to block the car, then used
martial arts
moves from the military to disarm and pin him to the ground until deputies arrived.

>>this was bad for me because i was holding a weapon in one hand, bag of money in the other and there was money everywhere.

>> reporter: the gun was a realistic fake. the money was recovered and peoples' son had an important question.

>>i came back in the bank. he stood up and said, dad, did you get that bad man? i said, yeah, and everyone started clapping in the bank. that was good.

>> reporter: for his bravery he was given an award by the sheriff. for his kids, his status as a superhero dad was reaffirmed. for "today,"
mark potter
, nbc news, miami.

>>very brave guy.

>>i would imagine the police would tell you to avoid confronting someone with a weapon, but for that man and his family it worked out.

Rogers went to each of the four bank tellers at the branch and instructed them to put money in a recycled grocery bag, and told them to leave out dye packs or any other trackers, according to the Herald-Tribune.

He waved his gun toward Peoples, who is black, and warned that "the big black guy" shouldn't try to stop him. Before fleeing the bank, he pointed the gun at Peoples' kids, Ikaika and Kioni. "The kid will get it" if anyone messed with him, Rogers said, according to the Herald-Tribune.

As the robber tried to make his getaway, Peoples left his sons inside the bank and ran to his rented van, which he used to block Rogers' car in the parking lot. Rogers drove his Honda into the van, trying to bust through it. When that didn't work, he got out and pointed his gun at Peoples, who twisted the man's arm, stripped away the gun and slammed him to the ground.

Sarasota Observer

Army Staff Sgt. Eddie Peoples, smiles at his son, Ikaika Peoples, 6, after receiving recognition for his actions.

"I've been through five deployments. I've fought the Muqtada militia, everybody you can think of, so weapons getting pointed at me, it doesn't really bother me anymore," Peoples told FOX News in Tampa Bay. "I took the weapon away from him and put him on the ground and the rest was history."

Sarasota Sheriff's deputies arrived and arrested Rogers, who is charged with armed robbery. The gun turned out to be a realistic toy.

"Every time I get deployed, I always tell my children I'm going to fight the bad men. When I walked back in the bank, my oldest boy said 'Did you get the bad men?' and I said 'Yep, I got the bad men' and everyone applauded," Peoples told FOX.

'Piece of cake,' soldier saysThe sergeant is home on leave because his father-in-law is ill, reported the Herald-Tribune. He will return to work later this month.

Compared to being in a war zone in the Middle East, thwarting the bank robber was "a piece of cake," Peoples said.

Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight presented Peoples with a certificate of recognition at a press conference on Wednesday.

"For Staff Sgt. Peoples to not only be on leave, hopefully relaxing, but with his two young children — to still take action to protect everyone in that bank is commendable," said Sarasota County Sheriff's office spokesperson Wendy Rose.

She said that while the sheriff "certainly does not recommend the average citizen spring into action like [Peoples] did, it was clear that he had this situation under control."

Sheriff Knight was so impressed with Peoples, he offered him a job.

"The sheriff asked him what his future plans were, and said please contact us when you're exploring coming back to this area," Rose told msnbc.com.

County commissioners as well as other staff members from the sheriff's office, mostly former military members themselves, came to the press conference to express their gratitude to Peoples, Rose said.